Replacement debate all about political advantage

Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of angling for maximum political advantage in replacing the late Frank Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate could hardly be more hypocritical. It's a given that the primary goal of both sides is to maneuver the process to best serve their own party.

So yes, it is clear that Gov. Chris Christie's decision to hold a special election in October - rather than waiting less than a month for the general election, at a far cheaper cost to the state - is indeed politically motivated. The goal is to avoid a Democratic ticket that could be led by Newark Mayor Cory Booker, as Christie averts being saddled with a weak Senate challenger on the GOP side. While Christie isn't likely to be meaningfully threatened in his race, the governor's coattails may be shortened if Booker is carrying the Dem flag .

The Democrats, of course, want to boost their November chances with the inclusion of the Senate race on the ballot, but can't publicly admit to such bald political calculations. So instead they're blasting Christie for his cynicism, with the spin that the governor is needlessly spending an additional $24 million for the special election, even though the real figure is only about half that, given that a primary election would have been necessary in either case.

But the Democrats aren't wrong about the financial hypocrisy. Christie, for instance, is forever encouraging school districts to move their elections to November to save taxpayer money. Yet in this instance the extra spending supposedly benefits the state because we're supposed to believe it's vital to quickly fill the Senate seat with an elected representative.

Be assured, however, that Democrats don't care a whit about the election spending. Their overwhelming concern is about getting some party strength near the top of the November ballot that gubernatorial challenger Sen. Barbara Buono isn't likely to provide. Booker offers that possibility; even someone like Rep. Frank Pallone would help the party cause running for Senate.

But let's also give Christie a bit of credit. In the end, he's choosing to get someone elected by the people in place as quickly as possible, when it appears he could have simply left his own appointed replacement keeping the seat warm until Lautenberg's term expired at the end of next year.

Whether or not Christie could have actually done that isn't clear; in fact one of the lessons to be learned from this debate is that the state needs to clean up some contradictory statutes regarding succession. But the governor chose not to fight that fight, and regardless of the motivations, the final result offers a certain amount of logic, despite the added costs.

This entire dispute feels more than a little unseemly so soon after Lautenberg's death. But it's also inevitable, and we suspect a party loyalist as well versed in political affairs as Lautenberg was would understand.

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Replacement debate all about political advantage

Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of angling for maximum political advantage in replacing the late Frank Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate could hardly be more hypocritical.

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